Defend the Consumer Bureau Updates

CFPB Deputy Director Leandra English announced via Twitter today that she will resign next week, months after Pres. Donald Trump illegally installed his Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney into the acting director position.

From requesting no budget to moving the agency away from its mission, it’s clear: Mulvaney is not leading the Consumer Bureau, he’s trying to undermine it. That’s why we’re calling on our senators to only confirm a qualified consumer champion to permanently lead the Consumer Bureau. You can help by taking action now.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Consumer Bureau) took the first step toward ending the debt trap by finalizing new consumer protections for loans where consumers must repay all or most of the debt at once. These products include shorter-term loans such as payday and auto title loans, and longer-term loans with balloon payments.

Last fall, a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit wrongly concluded that the leadership structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau violates the Constitution. U.S. PIRG Education Fund, along with many others, urged the full D.C. Circuit to rehear the case and correct the obvious errors in the panel’s decision. We were pleased when the D.C. Circuit agreed with our position and decided to rehear the case.

While powerful special interests, Senators, the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and the White House call for dismantling the CFPB, firing its excellent director, or worse, CFPB continues to be an agency that is on the job, conducting business as usual to protect consumers. Its latest "Monthly Complaint Snapshot" is an open window into the many reasons we need a strong CFPB.

President Trump gave his first address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, highlighting his legislative priorities for the coming year. His speech touched on issues ranging from the budget, infrastructure, and special interest influence in government.

“Rich Cordray is the LeBron James of regulators, it makes no sense to fire him.” Our consumer program director, Ed Mierzwinski, is right. We need to maintain a strong and independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, free from political and outside-industry influence. And to do that, we need to ensure Richard Cordray remains the Bureau’s director until the end of his term.

The President is expected to sign Executive Orders today designed to re-rig the financial system by dismantling critical Wall Street reforms, including to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Our statement in opposition is below.